Regenerative Braking & Brake Lights

[black_sheep]

Do the brake lights come on during regenerative braking on the Born?

I was following one yesterday evening and the brake lights were on/off constantly; really distracting when following on a straight country road.

 

[andycalvia]

Do the brake lights come on during regenerative braking on the Born?

I was following one yesterday evening and the brake lights were on/off constantly; really distracting when following on a straight country road.

They do this on my Leon, so I'd imagine it's the same on the Born. Make me look a terrible driver to those who don't know.

 

[vwtrev]

Just this morning followed an Audi E-Tron, and took me a few minutes before guessed that's what was happening, as the driver kept braking in front of me. Is a crap idea if it's true that when you lift off the throttle it puts the brake lights on, how are you supposed to know when someone is actually braking for real!

 

[Seastormer]

Whether it's the car or the driver braking, the car must be slowing so maybe legally they have to have the brake lights come on.

 

[vwtrev]

Whether it's the car or the driver braking, the car must be slowing so maybe legally they have to have the brake lights come on.

V.Good point, but it's still slightly annoying...

 

[andycalvia]

Whether it's the car or the driver braking, the car must be slowing so maybe legally they have to have the brake lights come on.

Surely that would apply to any car though. When you lift off the accelerator on a regular car it slows down but the brake lights don't show.

 

[Seastormer]

Surely that would apply to any car though. When you lift off the accelerator on a regular car it slows down but the brake lights don't show.

Yeh when you lift off in a normal car it slows a bit, but is not braking, these electric cars have the brake come on and slow the same as if the driver has pressed the brake pedal.

 

[Seriously?]

Slightly off topic, but I wonder if the brake lights on trucks illuminate when the "Jake" (exhaust) brake is operated?

 

[Alex667]

V.Good point, but it's still slightly annoying...

Not really, when you lift off on a normal car, your lights don't come on. They should really only come when your deceleration is above a certain amount. If your lights are flashing on and off without much reason, the person behind you is going to start ignoring them.

 

[C_ED_99]

Not really, when you lift off on a normal car, your lights don't come on. They should really only come when your deceleration is above a certain amount. If your lights are flashing on and off without much reason, the person behind you is going to start ignoring them.

I thought EU law was the brakes have to light if regen is above 0.3G (which is a fair amount). Though, maybe that was just what one of the other manufacturers was doing

 

[andylong]

With regen braking, you are braking so you need to know it's happening. You shouldn't be close enough for it to be troubling.
It does require a different technique when driving, but no more so than if you are driving economically or going for it a bit.

 

[andylong]

People who are driving very modern cars should really get some training, if fact anyone driving should get some every few years, even if it's just a check drive to assess your competence

 

[BlueBoy68]

Just this morning followed an Audi E-Tron, and took me a few minutes before guessed that's what was happening, as the driver kept braking in front of me. Is a crap idea if it's true that when you lift off the throttle it puts the brake lights on, how are you supposed to know when someone is actually braking for real!

Legally you are SUPPOSED to indicate that you are slowing down, even if not braking. You do this by tapping the brake pedal. To be honest I've also thought of this as being considerate? as well as reducing the chances of somebody hitting me. A rather evil form of ICE "brake testing" is to slam your car into a very low gear e.g into second at 60 or 70 mph and lift off violently. I mention this just to emphasise my point about warning the driver behind

 

[Bear]

Legally you are SUPPOSED to indicate that you are slowing down, even if not braking. You do this by tapping the brake pedal. To be honest I've also thought of this as being considerate? as well as reducing the chances of somebody hitting me. A rather evil form of ICE "brake testing" is to slam your car into a very low gear e.g into second at 60 or 70 mph and lift off violently. I mention this just to emphasise my point about warning the driver behind

Can you point me to the relevant legislation that supports this? Thanks.

 

[andylong]

Braking used to be pressing the pedal and clearly ( I'm presuming I don't need to source the construction and use regs for that, but it's Schedule 1, Road vehicles lighting regs 1989)
brake lights needed to light to show you were braking.
Conveniently hand signals existed for those old cars during the crossover and didn't have lights of that nature.
Now we have the car braking, either with actual brakes or the electric motor you can get there's laws to cover that.

"Regulation No 13-H of the Economic Commission for Europe of the United Nations (UN/ECE) — Uniform provisions concerning the approval of passenger cars with regard to braking [2015/2364]", a brake signal is required beyond 1.3m/s².

And there it is to cover our electric friends.

Ofcourse there's due care if it's bad and failing to maintain your vehicle if your brake lights don't come on as designed and numerous other construction and use issues if your vehicle doesn't work as built.

Legally you are supposed to indicate you are slowing down, brake lights (and I do wonder why anyone would challenge such a thing), for the traditional system and a minimum retardation for the rest of the system (the electric part) because I would suggest you may have a minimal retardation at times with regen.